Democratic State Representative Trey Martinez says the nation is suffering from a labor shortage! A quick web search of the news shows liberals claiming there are labor shortages in manufacturing, agriculture, medical and many other industries. Then they tell us we need to extend unemployment to 2 1/2 years because there are no jobs. The pattern is when talking about immigration they say there is a labor shortage, but when the issue of welfare comes up then the same person says there are no jobs. Here is another claim of a labor shortage
Well, it could be outright lies, or it could be that there is a genuine need in certain fields, or locations, that aren't garnering much attention from the job-hungry pool of the unemployed. For (hypothetical) example, if 20 manufacturing workers are unemployed in California and 20 manufacturing jobs are open in New Jersey, both the unemployment rate will be higher AND there would be a labor shortage.
With the mass exodus of immigrants lately I would imagine that there is quite the shortage in agriculture and manufacturing. Also, agriculture has had issues with labor shortages for a long time, not just recently. Farming is a tough gig to survive in and food prices have tanked drastically.
As MC says, maybe it's true but maybe it isn't. Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer made some statements but I didn't see any citations that would allow us to check it out ourselves. Maybe this guy is just a fear-monger. Maybe he's spot-on. I don't know and neither do you. Aren't we, as a nation, beyond the point where we believe everything every politician says?
Certinaly in agriculture and medicine, there are labor shortages. The extent also depends if you are talking about the nation as a whole, or certain geographic regions.
Fine, if you want to be personal, perhaps you should do a wee bit of research before mouthing off. "Marc Grossman of the United Farm Workers acknowledged that the growers face a labor shortage, and he said his organization is cooperating with Western Growers to back the AgJobs bill" Shortage of Immigrant Workers Alarms Growers in West - washingtonpost.com There are plenty of other articles you can read if you don't believe that source. I know most conservatives hate the Washington post. Help Solve the Agriculture Industry Crisis! Support AgJobs. is a website devoted to the labor shortage. This has been a problem for some. Farmers have been leaving the industry at alarming rates. I was non-committal in my post to be polite and because of scarce time to provide sources. Well, here is some evidence beyond snarky comments. I may not have expertise of some of the fine members here, but try to be dynamic in your analysis and you will start to put the pieces together.
It does a better job illustrating the relationship between agricultural labor and immigration (legal and illegal), not the status of the industry as a whole at the current time. In that sense it is still a valid article. I believe the 2nd link is 2009. I apologize for the over-site. “There continues to be a labor shortage in U.S. agriculture and agricultural employers need an efficient, affordable temporary worker program to help put food on Americans’ tables..." Labor Dept Approves Controversial New Rules on Farm Workers Agri-View: Dairy News (Wednesday, February 17, 2010) This will be a bit more relevant to the big picture as opposed to only immigration/labor ratios. The immigration relationship is the most near to my heart.
I've heard this argument that there may be a labor shortage, with the current economy, many people who would have considered the trades are instead going to college. Being in the trades myself, I can say there is a severe lack of work in the trades right now. Thus the reason why I am also attending college. As for farm labor, that is way out of my expertise.
